When a person dies from eating a commercial product, it’s certainly a terrible tragedy. But especially a child; not only because of the loss, but because the death could have easily been prevented if safe practices were actually used in producing food.

This story should get the attention of all parents. I’m pretty sure many will notice this story, but I don’t know that the majority will realize what’s really going on.

There’s one thing this story should tell everyone loud and clear:

Processed foods are not only unhealthy to consume, but downright deadly.

The FDA should take notice too, but I know for a fact they won’t do the responsible or ethical measure in this instance, which would be to fine and shut down the offending company who produced this product.

According to Reuters, ”U.S. health regulators said on Friday they are looking at several types of baby formula that could be linked to the death of an infant, expanding an investigation beyond Mead Johnson’s market-leading Enfamil.” So what actually needs to happen is that multiple companies need to be fined and shut down.

Sadly, what will happen is that this company or companies will likely get a slap on the hand with a fine which they can easily absorb, and be allowed to continue selling products. Because that’s how the FDA rolls: they protect their own. The FDA will make an official statement about the safety of FDA-approved products on their web site and in press releases, saying that this was just a fluke, is being “taken care of”, and that other products are healthy and safe to consume.

For awhile, some parents might avoid the offending company or companies, but will continue to trust other big food companies who produce toxic formulas, and will keep buying them to feed to their babies. Until, that is, the next recall or death comes along.

Folks, this is not the first time this has happened, and I’m sorry to say it isn’t likely to be the last. In 2008, there was an incident in China with tainted baby formula. How many more incidents do we have to have before our government officials, food companies, and general public wake up to this inconvenient fact that processed foods are full of deadly ingredients that make many people sick and sometimes kill them too?

I’m here to tell you that food recall lists are miles and miles long, and they happen all the time. Don’t believe me? See for yourself. Doesn’t this speak volumes about the “safest food system in the world” (quote from the FDA web site)? If, even after looking at the recall list, you still believe our food system is safe, here’s some startling statistics that will blow your socks off:

Every year there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths.

So, I ask this important question: are you really able to trust your health with these foods? How about your helpless, newborn baby?

What’s wrong with commercial formulas?

Commercial formulas are highly processed, subjected to high heat temperatures during manufacturing which corrupt fragile proteins, contain oxidized cholesterol and synthetic nutrients produced in a laboratory that your baby’s body cannot properly use, and are most often packed in cans lined in BPA – a known endocrine (hormone) disruptor.

Many so-called “hypoallergenic” formulas are made with processed soy – not traditionally fermented and contain estrogen – which are known endocrine disruptor and goitrogen (meaning it suppresses the thyroid), and contain anti-nutrients known as phytic acid which block mineral uptake and also leach minerals out of the body. Even organic formulas have some of these same issues. There has also been a chemical used to produce rocket fuel (percholate) found in baby formula!

Home made baby formula is nutritionally superior to commercial

Parents, please: if you are unable to breastfeed for any reason, and you want to be certain your infant gets what he or she really needs in the way of nutrients and support to be healthy during growth and development, take the time to make this nutrient-dense, home-made baby formula. It includes nourishing ingredients that are comparable to or superior to breast milk in nutritional value.

When using nourishing ingredients such as raw milk, yogurt, or kefir from healthy grassfed cows or foraging goats, fermented cod liver oil, this formula is nutritionally superior to anything you can buy on the market. Composition of the mother’s diet has a definitive effect on the nutritional profile of her breastmilk. If mother is not eating a traditional foods diet replete with healthy fats and proteins, her milk will be nutritionally-lacking.

If you want the hard, nutritional facts, here is a side-by-side comparison of nutrient content of the original home-made formula to breast milk, as well as goat’s formula and hypo-allergenic (liver-based) formulas. Foods like raw milk and dairy products such as yogurt, kefir, sour cream, butter, and other dairy foods, grassfed meats and poultry, eggs from hens on pasture, animal fats such as tallow and lard, seafood, organ meats, cod liver oil, and fish roe (eggs) have been traditionally consumed all over the world by many cultures to improve chances of conceiving, maintaining a healthy pregnancy, and during breast-feeding.

The Weston A. Price Foundation offers recommendations on dietary choices for pregnant or nursing mothers. These recommendations are based on the work of Dr. Weston A. Price who traveled the world in the 1930s to learn why his patients were experiencing degenerative disease as well as dental deformations and tooth decay. His findings indicated that those eating the most traditional diets including the foods mentioned above were not only the healthiest populations, but also had the highest fertility and carrying-to-term pregnancy rates.

These diets provided some of the most important nutrients necessary for life and keeping disease away: fat soluble Vitamins A, D, E, and K2, and Omega 3 essential fatty acids. These nutrients are in short supply in their natural, unadulterated forms in our modern food system. For more information, read Nutrition and Physical Degenerationby Dr. Weston A. Price.

“But”, you may protest, “the FDA says home-made formula isn’t safe!” Right. The FDA, who are so trustworthy.

Here’s what the FDA has to say about home made formula:

Homemade formulas should not be used.” says Nick Duy, assistant to the director in FDA ‘s division of regulatory guidance. ”Homemade formulas based on whole cow’s milk don’t meet all of an infant’s vitamin and mineral needs. In addition, the high protein content of cow’s milk makes it difficult for an infant to digest and may put a strain on the baby’s immature kidneys. Substituting evaporated milk for whole milk may make formula easier to digest, but it is still nutritionally inadequate when compared to commercially prepared formula. Use of soy drinks as an infant formula can actually be life-threatening.”

Here’s the flaw in this argument: The FDA does not mention the fact that many children are born with inadequate gut flora to properly digest and absorb the foods they eat, nor the fact those children have a dairy intolerance not because milk is inherently harmful, but because of this gut deficiency and also the fact that the majority of milk used is pasteurized and from cows on feedlots eating the worst imaginable diets, and is the most unnatural and unhealthy milk to consume.

So even if those same children consumed the “all-safe and nutritious” commercial formulas…guess what? They are still going to have problems with digesting those as well because they are not even made with real ingredients, and are loaded with toxic chemicals.

When my son was born, he was 9 weeks premature. Back then, I knew almost nothing about nutrition and I had no idea how harmful commercial formula was. My breast milk didn’t come in because of the birth being premature due to a ruptured appendix. I was incredibly sick and resorted to store-bought formula. We went through every brand you could imagine, including soy because my son was always discontent, fussy, and had terrible colic.

Looking back, I now know his issues were due to poor gut flora and the fact that he was severely malnourished. People kept telling me he was getting what he needed, despite the fact that he didn’t eat well and had picky eating habits. It wasn’t because he had “colic”, a term frequently used by conventional doctors who usually don’t understand what causes colic in the first place. It was abnormal gut flora which caused him to want the very foods which he shouldn’t have, and reject those which were healthy.

Remarks made about evaporated milk and soy milk are true – they are most definitely inadequate nutritionally – but as far as saying they are not as nutritious as commercial formula, they are actually just as bad or worse.

Here’s the flaw in this argument: there is no basis for this statement. People drank raw milk for thousands upon thousands of years, and fed it to their babies. Raw milk from healthy cows on pasture has always been and still is a life-giving food, and contains many nutrients, probiotics, enzymes, and proteins which prevent disease and illness. These are nutrients and elements which we are sorely lacking in our “safe” commercial and industrial food system. It’s a system which kills nutrients in food by its very practices each and every day due to filthy conditions, the use of antibiotics, high-heat, deodorization, alkalinization, sanitizing, irradiation, and many other harsh, chemical, and toxic practices.

Every year there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths.

These and other sicknesses and deaths are not coming from raw milk from healthy cows on pasture. They are from cows on feedlots, and our industrial food system! Don’t believe me? Just reference the food recall list and you’ll find these are from larger, commercial facilities…not small, sustainable, family farms.

What’s the bottom line?

Don’t put your trust in big food companies, and don’t believe the marketing or studies paid for by these companies to say their products are healthy, nor the corrupt medical establishment and government which backs them up. Cheap, toxic foods are never a good substitute for real, whole foods that deliver nutrition and heal our health, and our children’s future depends on this safe, reliable food system. Buy local, sustainable foods from farmers you trust, and be willing to cook and make meals from scratch.

Pick up a box of cereal or a loaf of bread from the grocery store, and you are likely to read a number of claims on the label about the nutritional content of the product.

In theory, these nutrients may be present in these foods. But are those nutrients naturally-occurring and are they something that the body can actually absorb?

Consumers have sought out foods for many years to combat health problems. Food fortification “is the public health policy of adding micronutrients to foodstuffs to ensure that minimum dietary requirements are met”.

Characteristics of processed and fortified foods:

Sold in various types of packaging – boxes, cans, plastic or foil wrap, or other artificial container (there are exceptions)

Heavily advertised – many companies who sell these foods spend more on advertising budgets than on food quality

Altered from their original state and subjected to some type of chemical alteration including but not limited to heat (such as boiling), pressure (pulsing), oxidation, osmotic inhibition (use of syrups), low temperature inactivation (such as freezing), ultra high water pressure (a type of pasteurization), dehydration, toxin inhibition (such as smoking, use of carbon dioxide, vinegar, alcohol, etc.), and chelation.

Are low or devoid in real nutrients due to chemical and heat treatment during processing and are fortified – which means synthetic, isolated nutrients are added to the product that are not naturally-occurring

A history of food fortification

In the 1920s when those public health needs were recognized by the government and health professionals, a cooperative response in the form of a health campaign was generated. In only a few years, this changed from a cooperative response to the creation of industry-driven stands.

One of the first foods to become fortified was salt. Iodized salt was first introduced in 1924 in Michigan. The incidence of goiter was reported to have fallen from 38 to 9 percent. As a way to obtain marketing advantage, a public campaign was launched to introduce iodized salt throughout the United States. The claim is made that by the 1930s, iodine deficiency was virtually eliminated.

As scientists began to study the importance of nutrients, minerals, and micro-nutrients in health, they began creating synthetic forms of these elements in laboratories for application to foods. The principles of food fortification assume correctly that these elements are necessary to health. This reductionst approach disregards the necessity of the elements in their natural state in whole foods, which is the only place synergistic complexes that are necessary for health are found. In order for the human body to recognize and use nutrients, they cannot be produced artificially in a lab and isolated to be added into foods where they do not normally occur.

As a result of the advent of mechanized processes in the Industrial Revolution, corporations were able to mass produce foods for sale that contained dietary recommendations by the government. The claim, supported by research, was that food fortification would “reduce nutritional deficiencies”.

Scientific methodand the origination of nutrient toxicity

In determining the method of how to provide nutrients to those in the population who required dietary aid, it was also necessary to avoid imbalances and excessive intakes of these nutrients for other groups. This risk/benefit characterization is dependent on the manner in which nutritional requirements are distributed and susceptibility factor of individuals to toxicity.

According to Codex Alimentarius, “fortification should not take place unless there is a documented need, and as long as there are no documented adverse health effects, fortification regulations should be liberal.” (See sources below for Codex information)

(Sources: Codex Alimentarius A1. General Principles for the Addition of Essential Nutrients to Foods. Vol. 4. CAC/GL 09-1987 (amended 1989, 1991). Rome: 1994., DG III of the European Commission, ed. Addition of Vitamins and Minerals to Foods and Food Supplements. III/5934/97. Brussels: 1997, and SCOOP Task 7.1.1 Working Group. Scientific Considerations for the Development of Measures on the Addition of Vitamins and Minerals to Foodstuffs. The Netherlands: TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute, 1996). For more information on Codex Alimentarius, read Is the threat of Codex Alimentarius real or a hoax?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee Guideline Report of 2005 (under the eye of Codex) intended to present knowledge about nutrients for recommending “a pattern of eating that can be adopted by the public”. Although the conclusions stated that healthy dietary patterns are linked to reduced risk of certain chronic diseases (such as diets containing high consumption of fruits and vegetables and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease), numerous intervention trials have concentrated on individual nutrients or the combination of nutrients rather than specific patterns of dietary consumption to determine levels of disease risk, and at best have had mixed results.

There are many discussions in health communities about nutrient toxicity and warnings about “overdoses”. However, the vast differences between synthetic nutrients produced in a laboratory and real nutrients in whole foods are seldom discussed. When people consume artificially-produced vitamins and minerals not from nature, the risk of overdose and toxicity increases exponentially.

The “regulation” and “classification” of nutrients in foods and dietary supplements have become of great interest to the government and affiliate organizations that seek to place controls on the types of substances we put into our bodies. By creating guidelines and documentation about food regulation based upon “scientific research”, these entities enforce recommendations upon the population and provide support and subsidies to corporations who comply with those guidelines and labeling – such as big agriculture businesses and pharmaceutical companies.

Nutrients contained in whole foods from nature are balanced correctly, and overdosing of those important elements would be nearly impossible. The body knows when it has eaten enough of natural foods, and becomes full at the right time to keep you from overeating. To quantify nutrient amounts in an artificial supplement to meet a “minimum daily requirement” where those elements are without their co-factors and naturally-occurring enzymes is a health disaster waiting to happen.

Ironically, the adding of synthetic vitamins and minerals to foods that have been stripped of these important elements has only made the problem of nutrient loss in the mass population more acute.

Fortified foods at the head of every table

Cereal and milk are two of the best examples of fortified foods. Most boxed cereals are produced through a process called extrusion where grains are forced through a small hole in a machine and then subjected to high temperatures. The grains are then fortified with synthetic nutrients to “replace” what was lost during processing. You can actually find some boxed cereals that are baked, but most of these are still highly processed and still have synthetic nutrients added to them.

Milk goes through a similar process. It is heated or pasteurized to kill harmful bacteria. While this occurs, good bacteria and vitamins are also denatured or compromised. The claim about pasteurization is that nutrients are not significantly destroyed, but then if that is the case, why is milk consistently fortified with Vitamin D? Synthetic Vitamin D cannot be properly assimilated into the human body without many other co-factors and enzymes, including Vitamin A, all of which are damaged during pasteurization.

A good example of a synthetic versus a natural vitamin is Vitamin D. According to Dr. Mercola:

“The best source of vitamin D is from the sun, but you also see many foods fortified with Vitamin D. Unfortunately, milk and other foods fortified with vitamin D often contain a synthetic form called ergocalciferol, or Vitamin D2.

This synthetic form isn’t as potent and doesn’t last as long in your body. In fact, synthetic vitamin D becomes toxic in your body at far lower levels. Too much synthetic Vitamin D2 may be linked to health problems. A number of studies link synthetic Vitamin D2 to irritation of the lining of blood vessels.

In fortified milk, you may not know even how much you are getting. When Dr. Michael Holick and his colleagues at the Boston University School of Medicine tested samples of milk, they found 8 out of 10 samples contained either 20 percent less or 20 percent more vitamin D than the amount the label advertised — and some of the milk tested contained no Vitamin D at all.”

Iodine deficiency in the general population has been observed in the United States since the 1980s. Remember the addition of iodine to table salt in the 1920s? Several decades ago when health professionals began to recommend to patients a low-sodium diet, a sharp decline in the intake of salt began to occur. Before the addition of iodine, people were not receiving an adequate supply of trace minerals in their diets due to the overwhelming amounts of processed foods they ate; processed foods are largely depleted of trace minerals. Now not only were people not receiving adequate iodine intake, but they were also not receiving enough salt.

Processed and fortified foods cause disease and illness

A fortified food is always a processed food. Processed foods are those that are altered from their naturally-occurring states. Food companies produce processed and fortified foods to enable longer shelf-life of products. This enables companies to lose less money on products that might otherwise be perishable and have to be discarded. But, reports and studies reveal that consumption of processed foods contributes to poor health. According to the Organic Consumer’s Association:

In 2005, researchers at the University of Hawaii concluded a 7-year study examining nearly 200,000 people and discovered that those who consumed the highest amounts of processed meats (bacon, hot dogs, lunch meats, and sausage) had a 67 percent higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer than those who ate little or no meat products.

Another study of over 400 Canadian men aged 50 to 80 found similar results. Those who ate processed meats, red meat, organ meats, refined grains, vegetable oils and soft drinks) had a significantly higher risk of prostate cancer than men in the other groups. Men who ate the most processed foods had a 2.5-fold increased prostate cancer risk.

Remember, these foods were not from safe, healthy animals on pasture – the likely source was from a factory farm or concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO). Consuming organ meats and red meat from healthy animals on pasture would never cause these kinds of results in healthy people.

Yet another study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Mile Markers, and Prevention found that consumption of refined carbohydrates like sugar, white flour, and high fructose corn syrup have a strong connection to the development of cancer. In Mexico, a study done on more than 1,800 women showed that those who ate 57 percent or more of their total diet from refined carbohydrates had a 220 percent higher risk of developing breast cancer than those who ate more balanced diets.

Processed foods usually contain the cheapest ingredients, and are available everywhere and anywhere. The majority of foods you will find at most grocery, food, and convenience stores are these types of foods. The negative effects on health have been observed by many people, including associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard David Ludwig. He believes these products discourage healthy eating and lead to a “toxic environment.”

“There’s the incessant advertising and marketing of the poorest quality foods imaginable. To address this epidemic, you’d want to make healthful foods widely available, inexpensive, and convenient, and unhealthful foods relatively less so. Instead, we’ve done the opposite,” said Ludwig.

Are meats and saturated fats to blame?

General medical health stance on meats and foods with saturated fats is that these foods are unhealthy and contribute to heart disease and many other illnesses. What is rarely mentioned is that most of the foods in these categories being consumed are processed, fortified foods from commercial and factory farm sources.

Foods originating from these environments are laden with toxic ingredients to allow for ease of processing, distribution, pleasant appearance, and preservation. Some of these substances include antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, preservatives, emulsifiers, congealers, nitrates, erythorbates, high amounts of refined sodium, MSG and other excitotoxins, hormones, and other foreign ingredients that are unrecognizable by and harmful to the human body.

What’s the difference between processed, fortified meats and grass-fed and pasture-raised meats and poultry? Naturally raised meats contain healthy fat, calories, and protein. They also contain the correct balance of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids, and have a higher ratio of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), beta carotene, and Vitamins A and E. These are all extremely important in protecting the body from developing degenerative diseases like cancer, heart disease, stroke, and obesity. Can you say the same about the other types of meats? No way!

What’s the low-down on processed and fortified foods?

The truth is, these kinds of foods are so far away from real food, it’s a wonder they are allowed to be sold for consumption. But, processed foods are big money makers for large corporations, so the likelihood of those products being completely eliminated from store shelves is pretty low.

Just watch the news or go to a media outlet page on the Internet and you’ll be certain to find a long list of news stories about food recalls. And guess what? Those recalls are always linked to processed, industrial foods. Read this post about whether we should trust the government to fix our food system and a list of just a few of those recalls.

Continued consumption of these foods will eventually lead to degenerative disease and illnesses. Here is a list of artificial and altered ingredients found in processed foods that cause health problems (source, Weston A. Price):

Trans Fatty Acids: Imitation fats in shortenings, margarines and most commercial baked goods and snack foods. Strongly associated with cancer of the lungs and reproductive organs.

Pesticides: Associated with many types of cancer. Found in most commercial vegetable oils, fruit juices, vegetables and fruits.

Hormones: Found in animals raised in confinement on soy and grains. Plant-based hormones are plentiful in soy foods.

Artificial Flavorings and Colors: Associated with various types of cancers, especially when consumed in large amounts in a diet of junk food.

Refined Carbohydrates: Sugar, high fructose corn syrup and white flour are devoid of nutrients. The body uses up nutrients from other foods to process refined carbohydrates. Tumor growth is associated with sugar consumption.

From Fooducate Blog, here is a very interesting post about Wonder Bread and the deceitfulness of food companies selling products that appeal to children, with clever labeling on the package to convince parents that the food is a healthy choice. Some people realize just how unhealthy products like Wonder Bread products are to eat, but did you know that many other brands that seem like better choices are just as unhealthy?

Take just about any store bought brand of bread you can find, and if it has a long list of ingredients, or even the wrong ones (which is common), those are likely unhealthy to consume. Any bread that has as its main ingredient any type of flour should be suspect. That’s because as soon as the grains are ground, they start to go rancid.

By the time it’s sitting on the shelf, it could have been there for weeks. Manufacturers put all sorts of additives and chemicals in the bread to keep it looking fresh and healthy to eat. But the reality is, most of those ingredients are harmful to your body. You’ll find high fructose corn syrup, dough conditioners, monodiglycerides, sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphateand a litany of others in most store bread.

Here are some other examples:

French Meadow Bakery) with just some of those ingredients. And for this junk you will pay around $5 a loaf. Wow! If you are going to pay that much, you might as well get something that is actually healthy.

Healthy Life Double Fiber 100% Whole Wheat Bread, with a lot of toxic ingredients. This list is much longer than the bread above. And it’s supposed to be so good for you to eat – low calorie, low fat, saturated fat and cholesterol free, no trans fat and a good source of vitamins and minerals. The problem is, this bread has been fortified and processed like everything else. When you take everything out, you have to add something back in – and usually those somethings are completely processed, synthesized in a laboratory, and unrecognizable by the body.

Various store brands have responded to concerns expressed by consumers and media stories by re-inventing their products to make them appear more healthy than they were previously. One such brand is Sara Lee. There are many others, but here is the list of ingredients found on Sara Lee brand 100% multi-grain bread:

Right away, the red flags are flour, sugar, vegetable oils, enzymes and enzyme-modified soy lecithin, and soy flour. All of these are probably from GMO sources. The vegetable oils are unnaturally produced and rancid, and soy is a nutrient inhibitor – not to mention is an industrially-processed waste product.

Real food is from the earth, and is produced naturally and without preservatives, chemicals, hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, genetic modification, or anything artificial. Most of the time you won’t find real food in a box or package.

Eating real food means eating plenty of nutrient-dense foods. Some of the most nutrient-dense foods on earth are those containing saturated fats like meats, poultry, lard, tallow, dairy products, and healthy oils like extra virgin coconut and olive oil. Believe it or not, these foods contain even higher amounts of essential nutrients than fruits, grains, and vegetables.

While fortified, fake foods offer little to no nutritional content, real food is exactly the opposite. These are life-giving, health-preserving substances. Here is a list of nutrients found in whole foods that protect against disease (source, Weston A. Price Foundation):

Vitamin A: Strengthens the immune system. Essential for mineral metabolism and endocrine function. Helps detoxify. True vitamin A is found only in animal foods such as cod liver oil; fish and shellfish; and liver, butter and egg yolks from pasture-fed animals. Traditional diets contained ten times more vitamin A than the typical modern American diet.

Vitamin C: An important antioxidant that prevents damage by free radicals. Found in many fruits and vegetables but also in certain organ meats valued by primitive peoples.

Vitamin B6: Deficiencies are associated with cancer. Contributes to the function of over 100 enzymes. Most available from animal foods.

Vitamin B12: Deficiencies are associated with cancer. Found only in animal foods.

Vitamin B17: Protects against cancer. Found in a variety of organically grown grains, legumes, nuts and berries.

Vitamin D: Required for mineral absorption. Strongly protective against breast and colon cancer. Found only in animal foods such as cod liver oil, lard, shellfish and butterfat, organ meats and egg yolks from grass-fed animals. Traditional diets contained ten times more vitamin D than the typical modern American diet.

Vitamin E: Works as an antioxidant at the cellular level. Found in unprocessed oils as well as in animal fats like butter and egg yolks.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA): Strongly protective against breast cancer. Found in the butterfat and meat fat of grass-fed ruminant animals.

Cholesterol: A potent antioxidant that protects against free radicals in cell membranes. Found only in animal foods.

Minerals: The body needs generous amounts of a wide variety of minerals to protect itself against cancer. Minerals like zinc, magnesium and selenium are vital components of enzymes that help the body fight carcinogens. Minerals are more easily absorbed from animal foods.

Lactic Acid and Friendly Bacteria: Contribute to the health of the digestive tract. Found in old fashioned lacto-fermented foods.

Saturated Fats: Strengthen the immune system. Needed for proper use of the essential fatty acids. The lungs cannot function without saturated fats. Found mostly in animal foods.